NOFX MAKES MONTREAL ECSTATIC!
The Metropolis of Montreal was definitely the place to be this past Monday: NOFX was there to give us an amazing concert. I’ve seen a lot of rock, metal and punk concerts in my life but NOFX is something else. I’ve never assisted to a concert that actually had the whole floor moshing and crowd surfing and it was definitely the case for that one. People were crazy, I mean even people upstairs were throwing bottles of water, jumping all around! If you have never seen NOFX live it’s something missing in your life!
Old Man Markley was the first band to come on stage, they played for half an hour and then Teenage Bottle Rocket played until 9:10 pm. We waited for a good 20 minutes to see NOFX arrive and it was worth the wait.
It wasn’t a fully accessorized stage: just a yellow and black sign of NOFX in the air with black curtains. We saw the road crew going back and forth and starting to bring stuff on the stage and you could feel the crowd’s anxiety level going high. People started to get really excited and then friends from the band came on stage sitting in the back and on the side of the scene. Then finally NOFX arrived, cool and simple as they are well known for, started to chat with us and telling us that they were really happy to be back in Montreal. They really took their time to joke with us before they start and it went like that all evening: a comedy act as much as a punk show!
They opened with Glass War and the crowd was pumped up and ready for them! Slam started the minute they started to play and never ended. I’ve never seen such energy in a show and this word is not even strong enough. After a couple of songs, it was so hot in the Metropolis that even some men on the balcony started to strip down their t-shirt. Also after a couple of songs, Fat Mike told the people that it was ok to smoke any illegal substance they want, no cops being at the venue, and people definitely did! I was really feeling like I was back in the days when I used to assist at some little punk shows in small venues. It was the same ‘’free spirits’’ ambiance but with a lot more of people!
Existing since 1983, the band played hit songs from their early, middle and more recent of their career which made all the diverse people present happy. Young NOFX lovers were present as much as old-timers. The band asked people older than 30 years old to raise their hands so they could know how much of them were there to enjoy the older sets and I was one of them!
The highlights of the evening were when they played We Called It America from their latest full length Coaster, Leave It Alone and Reeko from the album Punk in Drublic released in 1994, les Champs Élysées and Murder the Government from the album So long And Thanks For All The Shoes released in 1997. THE song that everyone went totally crazy on it was definitely Linoleum: it couldn’t be more ecstatic than that in a venue, it was a tremendous success. There was a lot more great songs played last night: we had the chance to hear 27 songs – check out the set list below to see them all!
Fat Mike is without a doubt a great showman, funny and so cool with the crowd that he make us feel almost like friends. He was having fun with us, pointing people in the crowd and making joke about them, talking about the Canadians of Montreal hockey, warning a guy that he shouldn’t wear sandals in a punk show, etc…
In my opinion, after so many years, this band is still the best punk band alive. They put on a fun and unique show that I will never forget. I will definitely be at all their Montreal shows starting from today.
Check out all their tour dates on NOFXofficialwebsite.com!
Photographer Josee Leblond was there to capture the event! CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE SHOW!
Montreal Setlist:
- Intro(Glass War)
- Pharmacist’s Daughter
- Herojuana
- We Called It America
- Seeing Double at the Triple Rock
- Mattersville
- Leave It Alone
- Eat The Meek
- Murder The Government
- It’s My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite
- The Bag
- Fuck The Kids (Pt. 1)
- What Now My Love **(Herb Alpert cover) **
- Separation of Church and Skate
- Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)
- Cokie the Clown
- Bob
- All His Suits Are Torn
- Les Champs Élysées
- I’m Telling Tim
- I Wanna Be an Alcoholic
- Reeko
Encore
- Doornails (Fat Mike & Old Man Markey)
- The Malachi Crunch
- Fuck The Kids (Pt. 2)
- Linoleum
- Theme From a NOFX Album
Category: Photo Updates, Reviews
